New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday refused to cancel the bail of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on a plea moved by the CBI in connection with the IRCTC scam.
A Delhi court had, in 2019, granted bail to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi, in connection with the case in which the CBI has claimed that operational contracts granted to a private firm, to construct two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation hotels, had irregularities.
In September, the CBI petitioned its special court at Delhi to overturn this bail. Earlier this year, Tejashwi had assumed the role of the deputy chief minister of Bihar after chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) broke away from its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In an analysis for The Wire, Nalin Verma had noted that the case began to be investigated much after Lalu quit as Railway minister in 2009 and that while Lalu was Railway minister, Tejashwi was a young teenager.
The CBI had claimed that at a recent press conference, Yadav had attempted to allegedly “subvert the process of law and thwart the entire investigation” as well as the consequent trial, and “blatantly abused the liberty granted to him.”
Special Judge Geetanjali Goel, on Tuesday, asked Yadav to be “more careful and choose appropriate words” when criticising investigating officers and the CBI.
“Should such statements be made while being the Deputy Chief Minister?” the judge asked him, according to NDTV.
The court passed the directions after hearing arguments during which Yadav claimed that he did not violate any condition set in the bail granted to him earlier.
“I (Yadav) am in an opposition party and raising questions on wrongdoing is my duty. The CBI and ED are being ‘misused’ by the present government. All opposition parties are feeling this,” Yadav’s counsel told the court.
“I am an easy target because I’m not with the current government. Nitish Kumar was all good for 15 years because you were in power with him,” Yadav’s counsel also said, according to NDTV.
The court said a detailed order will be passed later.
(With PTI inputs)